Being Friends with Hermione
by Healer Pomfrey
Summary: Just a little birthday story around Hermione, Harry and the Weasley twins. Which far reaching effects can a birthday party arranged by the twins have? Completely AU. Dobby and Snape alive, sick!Hermione etc. HP/HG


**Being Friends with Hermione**

_AN: For Rhonwen, who has her birthday on the same day as Professor McGonagall - I'm sorry for the delay. Belated happy birthday, Rhonwen! There are two OCs in this story, Rhonwen and her sister Gwendolyn - I hope everyone will be able to cope with that. Enjoy!_

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Rhonwen was very excited. Ever since she had heard of Hogwarts, she had begged her parents to send her to Scotland. However, as the news of the war in the British magical world spread around the small wizarding school in Wales she and her little sister Gwendolyn were attending, her parents had denied her wish. Only for her last school year, after the news of the end of the war had made its way to Wales, she had finally been allowed to attend Hogwarts for her seventh year in order to take her NEWTs in Scotland.

Her parents had accompanied her and her sister, who had insisted of changing schools as well, to Kings' Cross, and the two girls eagerly entered platform nine and three quarters. Rhonwen and Gwendolyn boarded the Hogwarts Express that was still mostly empty at that time and chose a free compartment, letting themselves sink into the seats next to the window.

They talked for a while, before they both engrossed themselves in the reading of their new school books and looked up startled when the door was slid open.

"Are these seats free?" a girl of about Rhonwen's age with bushy brown hair asked and, seeing Rhonwen and Gwendolyn nod, took the seat next to the older girl. "I'm Hermione Granger. You're new students, aren't you?" she asked curiously.

The two sisters introduced themselves and listened in awe as Hermione told them that she was a Gryffindor seventh year and Head girl.

"I'd love to be in Gryffindor as well," Rhonwen said eagerly. "I read '_Hogwarts: A History'_, and Professor McGonagall must be a wonderful Head of House."

Hermione nodded. "Yes, she's my favourite teacher as well. However, she is the Headmistress now, and she'll only remain Head of House and Transfiguration professor until she finds an adequate replacement. In fact, I hope that I'll manage to do my NEWTs well enough to get the post," she added in a quieter voice, more to herself than to the others.

"Oh, I'm sure you'll manage," Rhonwen said politely and began to ask everything that came into her mind, glad that she could finally all the questions she had been harbouring ever since her parents had allowed her to attend Hogwarts.

The three girls were so engrossed that they looked up startled when the doors were flung open and two identically looking boys entered the compartment.

"Fred and George!" Hermione blurted out in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

The twins laughed. "Oh, two new ladies! Ms. Head girl, don't you think it would be more adequate to properly introduce us than to ask questions that might annoy two handsome young men as us?"

Hermione snorted but obediently introduced Rhonwen and Gwendolyn to the twins, who bowed slightly before the girls and introduced themselves.

"What did you do to your shop?" Hermione couldn't help asking.

"Oh, Mum made Charlie and Percy watch the shop for us, because she wanted us to take our seventh year and properly finish Hogwarts in any case," the twins replied, a mischievous expression on their faces.

"Fred and George are our pranksters," Hermione explained to her new friends, "and they own a joke shop. Beware of their joke items."

"Thank you for the warning," Rhonwen said, smiling, while Gwendolyn eyed the twins with suspicion.

"Where are Ron and Harry by the way?" Hermione asked suddenly, causing the twins to smirk.

"They're having a discussion with some of the Slytherins..."

"... at the other side of the car," they replied in their annoying way to communicate.

Hermione jumped up from her seat, but to Rhonwen's surprise, the twins pushed her down again.

"Leave them in peace..."

"...They'll be fine."

Hermione sighed. "Well then, be quiet for a while so we can read a bit."

Rhonwen sighed in relief. The twins seemed to be very friendly, but it was a bit tiring to follow their conversation the whole time, and she really wanted to finish '_Hogwarts: A History_', before they arrived at Hogsmeade.

The rest of the train voyage remained uneventful. The girls read and talked from time to time, trying to ignore the giggling and joking twins as well as possible. By the time they arrived at Hogwarts, Hermione and the two sisters had become friends.

Rhonwen eagerly followed Professor Snape, the Deputy Headmaster, into the Great Hall, glad that her younger sister was walking next to her. "Rowena Ravenclaw, one of the Founders of Hogwarts, charmed the ceiling to look like the sky outside," she whispered to Gwendolyn, who looked up in amazement.

However, the two sisters didn't have much time to look around, since Professor Snape obviously decided to have them sorted before the first years and called the older of the two sisters first.

Noticing that Gwendolyn threw her an encouraging look, Rhonwen hesitantly stepped forward, and Professor Snape placed the Sorting Hat on her head. Suddenly, a high, pitchy voice penetrated her head, making her jump startled.

'_Oh, this is difficult_,' the voice said. '_Where am I going to put you? I guess it's Ravenclaw. What a pity that it's only for a year. You'd have made a brilliant Head girl_.'

'_What?_' Rhonwen thought in Shock. '_How nice that the Hat compliments me, but I'd rather prefer he placed me into Gryffindor_.'

'_Oh really? Are you sure?_' the Hat queried, and Rhonwen realised in surprise that the Hat seemed to be able to understand her thoughts.

'_Yes, I'm sure.... Please_,' she added softly.

The Hat remained quiet for an instant, before it shouted into the Hall, "Gryffindor."

Rhonwen sighed in relief as she handed the Hat back to the professor and walked to her new House table, glad that Hermione had reserved the two seats on her sides. She quickly sat down and watched her sister, who seemed to be talking to the Hat for an infinite time, until the Hat once more announced, "Gryffindor."

HP HEALER POMFREY HP

Rhonwen and Gwendolyn soon became used to being at Hogwarts. Just like Rhonwen, who spent her whole day together with Hermione, most times also with Harry, Ron and the twins, Gwendolyn had found good friends in her own class, and both girls enjoyed themselves immensely.

To Rhonwen's surprise, Hermione and Ron were fighting nearly all the time; however, all of their fights resolved about really stupid things, at least Rhonwen thought so.

"Why are they always fighting?" she asked Harry one day, when they were walking around the lake behind the bickering couple during lunch break.

Harry sighed. "Because they have been doing that since our first year. You'd think they'd learn over the years? No way."

"Ah, then why don't you just go out with Harry?" Ron suddenly shouted and without any apparent reason strode back to the castle.

"Hermione, what happened?" Rhonwen asked in shock as her friend let herself sink into the grass, tears running down her cheeks.

"He was my boyfriend, but I just can't do that longer. It's not only that he is, and has always been, jealous of Harry, no, he is even jealous of you. Am I not allowed to have friends?" she sobbed.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Rhonwen said softly, gently laying her arm around the other girl.

"Anyway, I finished with him," Hermione said, wiping the tears out of her face. "Now I feel better." She turned to Harry. "What are we going to do on my birthday? Unfortunately, it's a Thursday, so we won't have much time."

Harry smirked. "I'll discuss it with the twins," he promised, knowing that the twins seemed to very much enjoy being in the presence of Rhonwen and her sister.

"Oh oh," Hermione said, rolling her eyes at Rhonwen, who chuckled and followed her friends to the greenhouses for their first afternoon class.

At dinnertime, Fred and George, who were sitting next to Rhonwen, unobtrusively handed her a small parchment, motioning her to give it to Hermione. Chuckling, Rhonwen handed it to her right neighbour, who opened the parchment and held it out for her to read.

'_Hi Hermione,  
Thank you for leaving it to us to arrange your birthday party.  
Please be in front of the entrance doors on Wednesday evening at midnight.  
Bring as many friends as you like_.'

"What are you planning?" Hermione whispered to the twins. "I hope it's nothing dangerous."

"No, how could we..."

"... It's extremely harmless," the twins replied immediately, but Rhonwen could see a mischievous twinkle in their eyes.

HP HEALER POMFREY HP

On Wednesday night, Hermione, Rhonwen, Harry and to Rhonwen's and Hermione's surprise Gwendolyn met the twins in front of the entrance doors.

"It's not that I'm not glad to see you, but who invited you?" Rhonwen curiously whispered to her sister as they followed the twins towards the lake.

"George told me to come." Gwendolyn whispered back. "I hope that's all right with Hermione."

"Of course, why not?" Rhonwen replied reassuringly and observed in surprise as the twins began to shoot up fireworks. "But won't everyone in the castle hear and see this?" she asked terrified, causing the twins to laugh.

"No worries. We charmed everything so that no one except for the six of us will be able to see and hear anything. Where is our little brother by the way?"

"He refused to come," Hermione replied sombrely and took a step forward to pull Harry back, who was sitting very close to the edge of the water. Unfortunately, she slipped and fell into the lake, unconsciously pulling Harry down with her.

Fortunately, the twins were alert enough to quickly take two branches from a nearby tree and helped the two friends out of the cold water right away. Rhonwen waved her wand and cast drying spells at her two classmates, followed by a warming spell as she noticed that Hermione was shivering badly.

"Oh, that's better. Thank you, Rhonwen; thank you, Fred," Hermione said gratefully as she sat in the grass next to Rhonwen and Gwendolyn, far enough from the edge of the water.

No one was in the mood of watching fireworks anymore, and the twins led them to the other side of the lake, where they had prepared a huge birthday picnic. The friends enjoyed the delicacies the house-elves had prepared for them, and with talking, joking and eating it was soon three o'clock in the morning.

"I think we need to go to bed," Hermione finally said, yawning. "Otherwise, we're going to fall asleep in class."

"Especially as we have McGonagall in the first morning class," Fred chuckled and with a flick of his wand cleaned the remaining of the picnic.

After thanking the twins profusely for the nice party, everyone fell into their beds. All six of them missed breakfast, and when they met in the common room right before the beginning of their first class, the twins held out small phials for everyone.

"This is a stomach calming draught..."

"... just in case you need it..."

"... after eating so much during the night," they finished together.

Hermione, Rhonwen, Harry and the twins sat in the last row, and Hermione and Rhonwen just couldn't stop yawning, causing Professor McGonagall to throw them a sharp look. Fortunately, the professor didn't comment on their inefficiency during her class. They dragged themselves through the day and finally decided to go to bed straight after dinner.

'_Thank God_,' Rhonwen thought as she stretched out on her bed, wondering how Gwendolyn had explained to her friends why she was so tired. However, she didn't have much time to follow the thought, because she drifted off to sleep in the blink of an eye. It was a few hours later that she woke up by Hermione's moaning.

"Hermione," Rhonwen whispered in concern and quickly scrambled out of bed to check on her friend in the next bed.

"Rhonwen, I don't feel good," Hermione mumbled, "so cold here."

"Cold?" Rhonwen asked in surprise. "It's not cold here at all. Did you perhaps catch a cold when you fell into the water?"

"Maybe," Hermione whispered, "my head and throat are sore as well. Could you perhaps ask the twins if they can nick some Pepperup potion from the hospital wing?"

"Wouldn't it be better if I took you to the hospital wing or fetched the professor?" Rhonwen asked, carefully laying a cool hand on Hermione's forehead. "You're quite warm."

"It's not so bad. I'm sure I'll be fine with a Pepperup potion," Hermione whispered.

"All right," Rhonwen replied and threw her robes over her pyjamas, before she hurriedly left the room.

However, not only did the Pepperup potion not help and Hermione dragged herself through her Friday classes feeling horrible, but on Friday evening, Rhonwen began to feel miserable as well. The two girls decided to rest over the weekend, hoping they would feel better in time to do their homework that was due on Monday.

However, when Hermione and Rhonwen didn't appear in the Great Hall neither for breakfast nor for lunch on Saturday, Gwendolyn decided to check on her sister and her friend and quietly entered the seventh year girls' dormitory. She sat on the edge of Rhonwen's bed, taking in her flushed cheeks and the beads of sweat that were building on her forehead. She gently took her sister's hand in her own, noticing that it was very hot.

Rhonwen stirred at the cold touch and lazily opened her eyes. "Gwendolyn," she whispered, letting out a few coughs.

"You're sick," Gwendolyn said accusingly, looking at her sister in concern.

"Yes, but we decided to just sleep it off," Rhonwen replied, hating how hoarse her voice sounded.

Gwendolyn apparently didn't like it either since she stood up and said, "I'm going to fetch McGonagall. You can't afford it to ignore an illness like that. It'll only become worse." She gently pushed an errand strand of hair out of Rhonwen's face.

"No, don't," Rhonwen protested weakly, unconsciously leaning into the cold touch.

"I will," the younger girl decided and hurriedly left the room.

"McGonagall will take two thousand house points from us for falling into the lake," Hermione suddenly croaked. "I think the Giant Squid gave us one of the twins' fever fudges. We should..."

However, Rhonwen couldn't hear what Hermione thought they should, since Gwendolyn returned with their Head of House in tow. While Gwendolyn once more sat on the edge of Rhonwen's bed, McGonagall turned to Hermione and gave her a piercing look.

"What exactly is ailing you, Ms. Granger?"

Hermione coughed harshly, before she laid her hand on her forehead and said, "I think my temperature must be up to three hundred degrees, and my head feels as if I had been hit by a Bludger. I can't even remember when and where I was hit."

McGonagall looked at Rhonwen and pulled her wand, pointing it at Hermione's head and then at Rhonwen's. "You're both running a high fever, and I'm going to take you to the hospital wing." She swiftly conjured two stretchers and made them float in front of her, thanking Gwendolyn profusely for fetching her.

"Brysiwch wella (get well in Welsh), sis," Gwendolyn whispered to Rhonwen when the Professor motioned for her to remain in Gryffindor.

"Madam Pomfrey will throw you out anyway. I'll come back and tell you what she said later on," McGonagall promised as she stepped through the Portrait Hole.

HP HEALER POMFREY HP

Rhonwen noticed to her surprise that Harry was lying on a bed in the hospital wing as well. '_Maybe they really caught this cold when the fell into the lake, but why am I sick?_' she mused but was brought out of her thoughts by the arrival of the Mediwitch.

"Ms. Granger seems to be much worse," she heard McGonagall explain and watched as the Healer waved her wand over Hermione.

"She has the Grindylow flu just like Mr. Potter," Madam Pomfrey announced, before she turned to Rhonwen and cast the same diagnostic spell. "The same, although it's not as bad... yet."

"Did you fall into the lake as well?" McGonagall queried in surprise.

"Only Hermione and Harry," Rhonwen replied hoarsely.

"Well, then you caught it from Ms. Granger," the Healer replied firmly. "Make yourself comfortable in this bed. You're going to remain here for at least a week, if not two. You should have come to me earlier."

'_Oh no_,' Rhonwen groaned inwardly, when a thought pushed itself to the front of her mind. "What about Gwendolyn?" she asked worriedly. "Won't she have caught it from me?"

"I'll tell her to come to the hospital wing right away in case she feels unwell," McGonagall said soothingly.

"Thank you," Rhonwen mumbled gratefully, right before she followed Hermione into a potions induced sleep without even noticing that the Healer had spelled anything into her system.

HP HEALER POMFREY HP

By the time Rhonwen's mind returned to awareness, the hospital wing was dark except for the dim light from a few torches between the windows. Hermione was still talking about the loss of thousands of House points, but suddenly, Harry scrambled out of his bed and sat on the edge of Hermione's bed, gently taking her hands in his own.

"It's all right, Mione. You're delirious, but everything will be fine," he said soothingly. "It's not our fault that we're sick, and no one is going to take points." He gently stroked her cheeks.

At the sight of her two classmates, Rhonwen couldn't help suddenly feeling very lonely in the otherwise empty hospital wing. '_I wished I had someone to make me feel better, too_,' she mused in spite of knowing that she had her sister and her good friends but that they couldn't be there at that time. Suddenly however, she felt one side of her mattress being suppressed by something and was just about to let out a shout in shock as Fred Weasley emerged from under an invisibility cloak.

"Hey Rhonwen, how're you feeling?" he whispered, reaching for her hot hand.

"Better now that you're here," Rhonwen whispered back, feeling very happy. "I don't want to get you sick though."

"Ah, don't worry about that; I'm tough," Fred replied softly and gently bathed her flushed face with the cool cloth Poppy had draped over her forehead. "Go back to sleep; I'll be here for a while. I'll just pull the invisibility cloak over that I borrowed from Harry in case the Pomfrey dragon comes out of her hole."

Rhonwen chuckled but obediently closed her eyes, leaning into the cold touch of Fred's hand.

When she woke up, she could still feel his hand squeeze her own in spite of the fact that it was already late and the rays of the late morning sun were flooding the hospital wing, turning the large room into a bright, yellowish light.

"Hey there, how are you feeling?" Fred whispered from under the invisibility cloak, quickly standing up and hiding behind the bed when Madam Pomfrey strode to her side to check on her.

"Have you been here the whole time?" Rhonwen asked in disbelief when Fred returned to her side.

"No, I went back to Gryffindor for a while; can't have my twin worry where I am," Fred replied, his voice laced with mischief.

Rhonwen chuckled, before she asked in concern, "Is Gwendolyn all right? She didn't catch this illness from me, did she?"

Fred chuckled. "She is just spending the day on a date with George in Hogsmeade.

Rhonwen let out a gasp. "She what?" she asked incredulously, causing Fred to laugh.

"Don't worry; my twin is going to take good care of her, and I can promise you that your sister is going to have fun today."

"I believe that immediately," Rhonwen sighed, before she lay back and drifted back to sleep. She woke up to hushed voices next to her bed a few hours later, seeing Fred and George fussing over Gwendolyn on the bed next to her. "Is Gwendolyn sick as well?" she asked horrified.

"I think we all caught it," Fred croaked, returning to her side without the invisibility cloak. "We're only waiting for Madam Pomfrey to check on us."

'_Oh no_,' Rhonwen thought, terrified. '_Now they all got sick because of taking care of me_.'

"Don't worry, sweetie," Fred said hoarsely, gently squeezing her hand that wasn't much warmer than his own anymore. "We don't mind being sick when we're here all together. Believe me; we're going to have much fun!"

"You won't have too much fun with a fever of one thousand degrees, knowing that you're going to fail your NEWTs because you can't study for them," Hermione threw in, coughing.

'_Thank God the NEWTs are only going to take place in nine months' time_,' Rhonwen thought, just when Pomfrey entered the room, checked on her three new patients and put them to bed.

Like Fred had predicted, they had much fun during the two weeks the six friends spent together in the hospital wing. In spite of feeling miserable, Rhonwen had to admit to herself that she didn't mind missing classes, considering that her best friends were all together with her. The twins, who apparently weren't as bad off as everyone else because they had gone to the Healer as soon as they had begun to feel unwell, entertained their friends every time the Healer was away from the wing or her office for a few minutes.

On Rhonwen's birthday, the six friends were still stuck in the hospital wing, and when Madam Pomfrey came to check on them in the morning, Rhonwen begged her, "Please let me go back to Gryffindor. I feel so much better already."

The Healer sighed. "Yes, I believe that, and if you continue getting better, I'll release all six of you tomorrow morning."

'_What a birthday_,' Rhonwen thought sadly, hoping that at least Gwendolyn would remember that it was her birthday and would come to give her a hug. However, she didn't have much time to mull over the matter, because all of a sudden, the hospital wing became very busy.

Professor Snape strode into the room with two students on stretchers floating in front of him, getting sick all over themselves, and Madam Pomfrey quickly tended to the Slytherins. When she returned to her office just as Professor McGonagall brought the next students in, Fred began to moan.

"Madam Pomfrey, could you please arrange some screens around our beds? I have a terrible headache from the entire ruckus."

With a few quick flicks of her wand, the Healer arranged for screens around the six beds, causing Fred and George to sit up in excitement. Hermione chuckled excitedly, waving her wand around the six beds, before she whispered something to Harry, who pulled his wand out from under his pillow and waved it around their small room as well.

"Is that all?" Gwendolyn suddenly asked, giggling.

"Excuse me," Rhonwen asked in confusion, "what are you doing? Pomfrey will look in here any minute."

"She won't," Gwendolyn chuckled. "The twins asked their sister to put some of their joke potions into the Slytherins' breakfast. She'll be busy for a few hours."

With that, everyone began to laugh, and the boys stood up from their beds. George took a seat on Gwendolyn's bed, Harry sat next to Hermione, and Fred came over to her.

"What do you think we're doing?" he asked softly. "We're going to have a birthday party for the most special girl at Hogwarts."

Rhonwen could feel her face heat and take on the colour of her hair, which was about the same colour as the twins', but this time it was not from the fever.

"Rhonwen," Fred said softly, gently taking her hand in his. "I know that this is not the most romantic place, but sadly I couldn't come up with a better one. Still, I'd like to ask you to become my girlfriend."

'_Am I delirious?_' Rhonwen wondered as Fred continued, "I understand that this is a bad timing to ask you, and I'll ask you again as soon as the dragon releases us."

"It's all right," Rhonwen replied softly. "You don't have to ask me again. I'd love to be your girlfriend."

"Yay!" the twins shouted, and Fred pulled something small out of his pyjama pocket, pointed his wand at it, and all of a sudden, a huge colourful balloon with the inscription, '_Happy Birthday_!' was hovering over Rhonwen's bed.

In the meantime, Harry had called Dobby, and the elf had arranged for a huge birthday cake along with six cups of tea on a table between Rhonwen's and Gwendolyn's bed.

"Let's have some cake," Hermione said excitedly as she sat next to Fred on Rhonwen's bed to get a better sight at the cake, which was an exact replication of Hogwarts.

"We need to invite the whole Gryffindor tower to get rid of that," Gwendolyn commented, chuckling as she began to distribute the cake, handing everyone a plate.

Suddenly, a stern voice interrupted their party. "What's going on here?" Professor McGonagall queried, looking at the scene in disbelief.

"Oh Professor, come and take a seat," George invited the teacher quickly.

"You must understand that we have five reasons for this party..." Fred continued.

"...First of all, Gwendolyn agreed to become my girlfriend..."

"... and Rhonwen agreed to become mine..."

"...Harry finally made Hermione his girlfriend..."

"... Today is Rhonwen's birthday..."

"... and as far as we know it's yours too, Professor," the twins finished their conversation simultaneously, and Gwendolyn handed the teacher a piece of cake.

"Here Professor, it's your office," she explained gently, and everyone began to sing the birthday song for their Head of House and Rhonwen together.

**The End**

_I'm not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

_All recognizable characters - apart from Rhonwen and Gwendolyn - belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story._


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